McCain Scores Off Obama

A lot of harsh words have been exchanged between Republican and Democratic Senators (and Presidential candidates) since the Senate voted to continue funding the Iraq war. Barack Obama put out this press release:

This country is united in our support for our troops, but we also owe them a plan to relieve them of the burden of policing someone else’s civil war. Governor Romney and Senator McCain clearly believe the course we are on in Iraq is working, but I do not. If there ever was a reflection of that it’s the fact that Senator McCain required a flack jacket, ten armored Humvees, two Apache attack helicopters, and 100 soldiers with rifles by his side to stroll through a market in Baghdad just a few weeks ago.

Which prompted this rather crushing riposte by McCain:

While Senator Obama’s two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation’s security.
By the way, Senator Obama, it’s a ‘flak’ jacket, not a ‘flack’ jacket.

It was a natural mistake, I suppose–Obama has so much experience with flacks, and none with flak. It’s a reminder, too, of how callow Obama may look running for President (or even Vice-President) in a time of war, and how effective McCain can be on the national security issue.
UPDATE: A McCain aide adds this pithy observation:

Obama wouldn’t know the difference between an RPG and a bong.

Actually, Obama might be too young to know what a bong is, or was.
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